Open Air

I am reaching out to the JK community for some serious advice on modifying my 2008 JK 2-Door. I have had it since Feb '08 and haven't been able to do much off-roading with it for several reasons. One, it only has a 3.25 lift, tires and wheels, and door steps... I know, not much extra capability besides clearance than stock. Second, I don't have money to fix things cuz I know when I go off-road, I love to do fun/stupid things which usually result in damage or close to it. (isn't that the point of a Jeep? lol) But I'm starting to go crazy with not having fun with my Jeep off-road and am hopefully going to come into some money through a personal loan soon.

I have tons ideas of what I would like to do, but don't know what would be the best option budget wise while still making some quality modifications.

Like I said, I have a 3.25" Rusty's suspension lift with 35's. No new gear ratio, slip yoke eliminator, etc has been done to it.


The biggest thing is I want to redo my gears, but don't know whether I should drop new ones in and save money or invest in upgraded axles that already have the ratio I want. Also, should I be running a 5:13 ratio or a 4:88 ratio with my tires? Another thought I had is if I invested in new axles with gears, should I invest in ones with manual lockers like Ox as opposed to air/electronic lockers, or would it suffice to upgrade to the stock rubicon axles that have the electronic lockers, instead of buying some more expensive after market axle? I don't know the true benefit of one locker over the other either...

On top of those modifications, I'm looking to at the same time buy new tires/wheels, have a slip yoke eliminator put on, dual exhaust, throttle body spacer, cold air intake, and maybe some other small things (bumpers, etc.) Any advice on those kind of products would be helpful too, or any better ideas. I have some particular companies in mind to purchase from but an open to anything else.

So pretty much, anyone who might have a good game plan for me to get a serious upgrade to my jeep off-road wise, while keeping to some sort of budget, and having some left over for other mods maybe, I AM ALL EARS!!

Thanks fellow JK'ers.

wazooz2424

first, id like to say that with your current set-up, youd be surprised how off road capable your jeep is, already. theres no reason why you should let anything stop you from getting out and hitting trails. jeeps are pretty capable from the factory.

gears are going depend on whether you are auto or 6spd and if you plan to never go above 35s. if auto, id do 5.13s. if manual, youd be fine with 4.88s and 35s. im still on 4.10s and have no complaints as my DD.

depending on how much you want to spend, you can go all out and get some aftermarket d44s or d60s. on the other spectrum, you could keep your current axles and just regear them. it all depends on your future plans and what you ultimately want your jeep to be able to conquer and how much you want to spend.

im guessing you have a front 30. what rear do you have? personally, with the setup you already have, id look for rubi d44s with 4.10s and e-lockers and maybe a rubi transfer case for crawling. its not an insane build, but you will be able to do anything close to MD.

"On top of those modifications, I'm looking to ... have a slip yoke eliminator put on, dual exhaust, throttle body spacer, ... Any advice on those kind of products would be helpful too, or any better ideas. I have some particular companies in mind to purchase from but an open to anything else."

this stuff really isnt really needed/available for a typical JK setup. the jk has a fixed yoke, so you dont need a sye.

jeep2007

First, what Wazooz24242 says is dead on. I have an 07 Unlimited with the same lift and even without lockers, you can still do more then you think you can being stock. I run 35s and will reger to 5.13 with a rear locker. I want to run 37s next tire change and Planman gave some great advice on that in the Write Up section.

Have fun with the Jeep foremost and do what you can when you can!

Open Air

True, true. I guess I shouldn't have made my post come off as if I'm under writing what my Jeep is already capable of, cuz by no means did I intend that. They reamin and will always remain the badest off-road vehicle there is.

But anyway, I digress. I believe I have the standard Dana 44 rear and 30 front. I would absolutely LOVE to throw 37's under there, but with my lift, I believe I need to go a step further to get the tire clearance whether it's a bigger lift or other modifications. I'm thinking that I'll most likely end up getting a quote on having 5:13's dropped in and having lockers installed. If that comes out to being more money than just buying the stock Rubicon axles than I would just do that instead. I doubt that will be the case, however, Quadratec lists those axles for something like $1,600 so it might end up being cheaper to buy two new complete axle setups and be happy as can be. I believe the Rubicon axles come with a 4:10 ratio tho, so I'd end up buying the axle then having to re-gear anyway, so it sounds like just popping new gears in would be the best option and maybe heighten the strength of the axle in other ways.

But, if I went with 37's, I understand Dana 60's are the way everyone should try to go if they can, but not necessary. But for now, I know I can't afford 37's currently... Gotta keep some things dreams for now haha.

thanks so far for the input!

wazooz2424

being on a budget, id get rubicon d44s with e-lockers and stick with the 4.10s (if 6spd) and 35s. then get a transfer case with lower ratio. then c gusset and sleeve the front axles. then do bumpers and winch. even if you dont go any further than this set up, you will be extremely good for most trails, even blacks in this area. this would leave you set up good for regearing to 5.13s or 5.38s and doing 37s.

nthinuf

Take a step back and do a LOT more research before you start dropping cash on anything !!!!!

Start with the FAQ's (stickied to the top of this modified area)
Lots of great info on lifts --> and which components you will want for various lift heights. What size tires will fit, What backspacing you will want. Driveshaft issues you can expect if you go higher. Gearing recommendations with a nice CHART to plug numbers into.

Those engine mods you listed have minimal impact. More research.

The JK does not use a slip yoke. More research.

Chop your flares or get flats and you can run 37's on your current lift. More research.

See where this is going ??

Go up to 60's, don't mess with rubicon axles.

Do you have any clue what new axles (even rubicon axles) cost ?????




More research before you even think of making an upgrade...

Open Air

I haven't even come close to finishing researching stuff. But the engine mods are for other reasons. I put it in there to show what kind of budget I might be working with and if anyone had recommendations as to particular products that they would recommend.

I did check out the write up about how to put 37's on my current lift tho, which I knew I could do, just not the how. I don't think I want to go that road tho cuz I eventually want to go higher, and would set up my 37's differently. However 37's with a small lift still looks awesome! For now I just want to rework what I'm sitting on for a relatively decent price.

I'm probably going to be working with a $5,000 budget if that helps anyone with recommendations.

nthinuf

Are you building for this ??
To me, that means 'over-built'...



Can't do a 60 for 5k. (unless you build it yourself?)

ProRock 44 up front and your budget is gone.

Rubi 44 up front with gears, sleeves, gussets, truss, alloys etc and you have a little left over. (watch for used 44's from the guys upgrading to 60's. You might get lucky and find one already geared. Have to move fast if you find one, they don't last long)

Dump a ton of money into beefing up your 30, and you're probably going to be fixing it all the time from doing " fun/stupid things ".



For lockers, read Dynatracs posts here:
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...28-best-locker

For gearing, start with the chart in the faq's.

For engine mods, search around for the specific ones you are looking at. In general, expect minimal gains. Best bang for the buck will probably be a tuner (superchips flashpaq seems to have the best reviews)

wazooz2424

x2 on the above

genesbro

If you want to run 37s and use the 4:1 xfer case and lockers then for sure you want to get the d60s as soon as you can unless you like fixing broken axles. Right now you are open diff and with the current xfer case you could get away with the 37s and run any trails you want. Lockers put lots of extra pressure on those skinny little axles and that can lead to breakage.
For now just get out there and have fun and don't worry about hurting it in its current configuration.